WASHINGTON — When House Republican leaders gathered for a news conference on the steps of the Capitol last week, it was supposed to be a Memorial Day salute to veterans.

But the event quickly deteriorated as reporters crowded around a beleaguered House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, R-Ill. They shouted questions about whether he was under investigation as part of a lobbying scandal and whether he would sue the television network that reported he was.

“That’s something my lawyers are taking care of right now,” answered Hastert, who was so pressured by the media swarm that he had difficulty shaking hands with the veterans being honored.

It was a telling moment in a week that saw Hastert, who for years has been a loyal Bush lieutenant and a calming influence in his party, turn into a vocal critic of the administration and become the center of controversy himself.

Hastert threatened to sue ABC for libel after the network aired its report — later denied by the Justice Department — that he was under investigation in the Jack Abramoff influence- peddling scandal. And Hastert angrily accused department officials of trying to “intimidate” him by leaking a false accusation to ABC.

The speaker had earlier taken the lead in challenging the FBI’s authority to raid the congressional office of Rep. William Jefferson, D-La., who is being investigated in a corruption probe. He pressured Bush to agree Thursday to seal records seized from Jefferson’s office and negotiate with Congress how to handle them. That happened even as top law enforcement officials implied they would resign before they would give back the records.

House Republicans cheered Bush’s decision to seal the records seized from Jefferson’s office, because they believed the raid violated Congress’ prerogatives. Hastert, 64, was viewed as so important to Bush’s second term that the White House urged him to set aside thoughts of retiring before 2008.

In Bush’s second term, all that has changed. Public support for Bush and his policies has dropped precipitously, even among conservatives.

House Republicans, including Hastert, increasingly see their political interest as distinct from Bush’s, since he will never again stand for election. At a time his support is more important than ever in maintaining party unity, Hastert has been increasingly willing to defy the White House. He was a leading critic of the Arab company’s port deal. He criticized the administration’s choice of Gen. Michael Hayden to replace Porter Goss (a Hastert friend and former congressman) as director of the CIA.

Hastert also opposes the administration’s plan to allow illegal immigrants to become citizens, a view shared by most House Republicans.

Hastert surprised many when he criticized the FBI raid on Jefferson’s office, because in doing so he seemed to be siding with a Democrat accused of corruption.

Hastert argued it was his job to defend Congress’ institutional prerogatives and said the search violated the constitutional separation of powers for the executive branch by rifling through legislative files. He took his case directly to Bush in at least two conversations last week, according to a Hastert aide.

The issue prompted Hastert’s staff to make a rare effort to reach out to House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi,

D-Calif., with whom Republicans have been locked in partisan combat for years. The adversaries worked together in Hastert’s Capitol office Wednesday to draft a joint statement asking the FBI to return the materials seized from Jefferson’s office.

But Hastert’s drama for the day did not end with his rare appearance, almost hand-in-hand, with Pelosi as they announced their joint statement.

That evening, ABC reported that Hastert was under investigation as part of the Abramoff inquiry because of a letter he had signed urging the Interior Department to block an Indian casino opposed by one of Abramoff’s clients. The usually unflappable speaker became furious. He denied the report flatly, and soon the Justice Department issued a statement backing him up.

(Click here if you are unable to view this photo gallery on your mobile device) The Ruth Bancroft Garden in Walnut Creek celebrates the life of its founder Ruth Bancroft who died at 109 on November 26, 2017. The Ruth Bancroft Garden is a nonprofit public dry garden that was planted by Mrs. Ruth Bancroft in 1972 and was opened to the...